


Somehow That Was Everything

by cnoocy



Category: Out of the Woods - Taylor Swift (Music Video)
Genre: Gaslighting, Gen, Mythic Fantasy, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 04:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10936692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cnoocy/pseuds/cnoocy
Summary: I knew these things to be true, because he had told me so. Then he gave me the necklace and went away across the sea. That's my first memory.





	Somehow That Was Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [litra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/gifts).



I lost him.

Looking at it now, it all seemed so simple: he had created the beach and the sea. He had done this to keep me safe from the danger of the woods. The woods were the home of the One-Who-Alters, who would send her wolves to take me for her own. I was allowed to go to the woods, but at the first sign of danger I should return to the beach, where I would be in the clear. I knew these things to be true, because he had told me so. Then he gave me the necklace and went away across the sea. That's my first memory. 

Once he left, I was alone with the beach, the sea, and the vines. The vines appear and move without any apparent aim or pattern. Sometimes I let them twine around my arm, then pull it free. The beach is peaceful. He made it to be a place clear of change, where time can stand still, but standing still is not always very exciting. 

So I often walk in the woods. He says it is a place of chaos, where things change too much, but I feel at home there. The air is cooler, and I can stroll through the hanging vines. I just make sure to return to the beach when I see the wolves.

Today, though, I see the wolves and I can't just return to the beach. So I run. They chase, of course. They aren't in any sort of hurry, but they are still faster than I am. They nip at my skirt and tear it, and it gets caught on the vines as they pass. I trip and fall…

… And land in snow. Snow? How is there snow? I pick myself up and keep moving. The wolves are not far behind me. As I look for a safe place, my hand finds the necklace. 

“If you go to the woods,” he had said, “the One-Who-Alters will try to get you. She exists to change things, and you are the one she most wants to change. She is very fast, and so are her wolves. But if you see her or them, just touch the necklace and it will return you to the beach, where things are clear and simple.”

I grip the chain angrily. Clearly it doesn't work. Why did his necklace fail? Why did he fail? I rip the worthless thing from my neck and discard it in the snow as I race to higher ground. 

Up on the ridgeline, the path is treacherous. I have to walk slowly to keep from falling. So do the wolves, but as I reach the end of the ridge I realize it doesn't matter. There is no slope downward off the mountain, just a massive cliff above the sea. I have no choice. I fall and I am flying, flying, and then I am in the sea, sinking, sinking. The light falls up away from me and I wish I were back on the beach…

… and I am on the beach. But the sea is gone, except for my wet dress and the water I splashed on the ground as I arrived. I stand shakily and look for some sort of support. 

There is a tree, twisted and leafless, but strong. I have seen it on the beach and in the woods before, and spent time staring at it. But now I only care that it is sturdy. I stumble over to it and lean against it…

… and I am back in the woods, leaning against the same tree, which is now covered in ice along with the rest of the woods. The seawater on my body starts freezing, and I stare in wonder as icy spikes form on my hands. In what seems like no time I am totally immobilized. In the distance I see an avalanche and icy trees falling around a cloaked figure. The One-Who-Alters! I should be frozen with fear, but I'm not. Am I already as frozen as I can get? Whatever it is, the sight of her fills me with defiance. I smile and flex, shattering the ice around me. Then I run, and as soon as I trip, the entire outer layer of my frozen dress shatters as well. I fall again…

… And land on my hands and knees in mud. I'm still in the woods, but it's warmer now, with rain falling from the thunderstorm above my head. I can see the flashes of lightning in the puddles of water around my hands as I crawl forward in my underdress. I keep crawling, staying low while there's lightning around, but as I reach forward, the vines reach around me and keep me from moving. It's not like them to act like this. Are they serving the One-Who-Alters as well? They hold me tight as the rain drenches me…

… And I'm dry, and upright, and back in the shady woods I know. Leaves and fireflies whirl around me as I take in the new situation. I'm still trapped by the vines. I wonder, can I shed them like I shed the ice? I flex, and the vines release me. It is only then that I notice that the vines have been holding me well above the ground. Oops. I fall…

… And I'm in the snow…

… And I'm in the rain…  
… And I'm in the desert…  
… And I'm in the ice... I'm on the beach… In the sea… the woods, but they’re burning… I thrash, trying to regain some sort of control. How can I stop jumping from one place to another? I can’t, so I stop trying. I let the places wash over me as I regain my footing. I put my hands under me in the mud, raise myself to a crouch on top of a mountain, and stand in the icy woods and the burning woods… which is when I realize that I don’t need to stop jumping from place to place. I can just be in all of the places at once. 

I put my hand on the twisted tree. I've seen it in multiple places. But it’s not some sort of monster that moves around. It’s just a tree. It stays in the same place. Which means that I haven’t been in multiple places at all. I’ve been in multiple times. And then I remember…  
I remember…  
I remember…  
I remember! He was never trying to protect me from the One-Who-Alters at all. He was trying to imprison her. He was trying to imprison me.

I am the One Who Alters. I am Fast like a long-winged bird. He has tried to capture me in this cage of woods and clear, but my wolves have sought me out and made me my own again. Even the vines do my bidding, for I am Time, and he will pay for what he has done.

But I have lost him. He has gone beyond my reach somehow, and I cannot find him. But it doesn't matter. I've got plenty of Me and I don't mind waiting. So instead I walk in the moment where the woods yield to the beach. There is a confused woman standing on the shore and she could use a helping hand...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta reader B.


End file.
